Featured - page 34

San Mateo County has adopted a ballot tracking tool that enables voters to track the delivery status of their vote-by-mail ballots, according to Secretary of State Alex Padilla’s office.

Voters in San Mateo County can now sign-up at WheresMyBallot.sos.ca.gov to receive automated notifications about their ballot via email, text (SMS), or voice call. Notifications will occur when a voter’s ballot has been mailed, received by the Election’s office, counted and if and when there are any issues with the ballot. Voters signing up will also receive communications from their County elections office about important election deadlines and polling place changes.

“San Mateo County voters who sign up for ‘Where’s My Ballot?’ can rest assured that their vote-by-mail ballots are accounted for at every stage of delivery,” Padilla said in a statement. “Signing-up takes just a couple of minutes, and voters will enjoy automatic updates on the delivery status of their vote-by-mail ballot for each and every election. As more voters look to cast their ballots by mail during this health pandemic, this tool will provide peace of mind that voting by mail is safe and secure.”

So far, 26 counties in the state have adopted the ballot tracking tool, which was made possible by AB 2218, legislation signed into law in 2018.

San Mateo County is taking a number of steps to house at-risk homeless individuals during the COVID-19 pandemic, expanding bed capacity at shelters and using hotels as temporary shelter.

At the Maple Street Shelter in Redwood City, additional trailers added 20 shelter beds to the facility, according to the County. The WeHope Shelter in East Pablo Alto has expanded by 10 beds.

Along with sheltering 77 homeless clients at hotels with the aim of achieving adequate social distancing at current shelters, the County has partnered with a hotel owner and Samaritan House to secure 60 rooms for temporary housing. That hotel, being called Bayfront Station, is operated by Samaritan House. The County says it’s not identifying which hotels are participating in the program to preserve privacy for its clients.

The effort is part of Project Roomkey, a statewide initiative providing federal emergency reimbursements to local governments to establish temporary housing at hotel and motel rooms, along with meals, security, laundry and other services to support at-risk community members.

“We – and I mean all of us – are facing an unprecedented public health emergency,” said Ken Cole, director of the County’s Human Services Agency, which oversees its efforts to end homelessness. “We have an obligation to help the most vulnerable members of our community and, at the same time, do all we can to contain the spread of the coronavirus.”

Individuals eligible for emergency housing must contact one of eight Core Service Agencies in San Mateo County that, under contract with the County, provide emergency safety net assistance. Following an assessment, individuals may be placed in a homeless shelter program that could include Bayfront Station.

County Manager Mike Callagy has committed to housing all homeless individuals willing to accept shelter.

All photos of Bayfront Station courtesy of San Mateo County

Ten residents of the Gordon Manor assisted living facility in Redwood City have died over the last few weeks as a result of complications from COVID-19, including neurobiologist and former Stanford president Donald Kennedy, 88.

About 20 residents and seven staff members of the facility at 1616 Gordon St. have tested positive for COVID-19, said Facility Director Alisa Mallari Tu. The San Mateo County Health Department has deployed a team of clinicians to the facility to support care and monitoring of patients.

Nursing homes across the nation have been ravaged by the pandemic. A recent report by The Wall Street Journal said over 10,000 nursing home residents have died after being infected with the virus. On April 15, San Mateo County Health Officer Dr. Scott Morrow implemented enhanced efforts to protect residential care facilities.

In a phone interview, an emotional Tu expressed gratitude to public health officials and her staff for continuing to care for residents at a difficult time.

“Our staff are courageous, hardworking and incredibly caring,” Tu said. “They come here really because they want to, they feel a duty because they love [residents], and under these conditions it’s so difficult.”

Social distancing and other measures, while necessary, are meanwhile posing a challenge for residents at Gordon Manor.

“We used to gather for live music, have birthday parties, dance together, sing together, congregate in the garden, have tea parties, do art classes,” Tu said, adding the human connection is particularly beneficial for residents with dementia. “It’s just really challenging right now.”

Gordon Manor has operated in the Redwood City for many years, and is very much part of the tightly knit community, Tu said. At the facility, Tu said she cared for one of her physical education coaches who taught her at Woodside High, and who also happened to be her homecoming date’s grandmother.

More caregivers are needed on the frontline of the COVID-19 battle, Tu said.

“We’re all in this together,” she said.

Here is Tu’s official statement on the COVID-19 crisis impacting Gordon Manor:

“We are emotionally devastated by the reality of coronavirus in our community and in the many other senior and group communities like ours. We are grieving the loss of our ability to celebrate birthdays together, dance and sing together, and share our meals together. Our population might be considered vulnerable, but our residents are filled with history, humor, love, and wisdom, that we, as their caregivers, get to experience every day. Our sole purpose through this extremely difficult time is to focus all of our efforts on the well-being of our beloved residents and their dear families, as well as our incredibly dedicated and courageous staff members who bravely, every day and every night, come in to work to care for our residents. We are overwhelmed with gratitude for the skill and expertise that are supporting us and to those community leaders, public health and emergency agencies who recognized the threat and have mobilized to stabilize our community. We are so very grateful to our volunteers, donations of personal protective equipment, food and drink, and especially to our precious families who continue to encourage us and nurture us with their support. We will never be the same, but then again, none of us will be.”  

Local Subway restaurants are now offering wholesale grocery supplies for purchase during the COVID-19 pandemic, including breads, lunch meats, a variety of proteins, cheeses, vegetables, sauces, soups, egg patties and snacks.

Orders can be placed at local restaurants via subwaygrocery.com for pickup and delivery, and visitors can also donate a sandwich to first responders in their shopping carts, according to Subway. In addition, the site provides chef’s recipes, such as Chili Willy’s Steak Fajitas and the Qurantuna Melt, all made from available ingredients complete with a corresponding Subway shopping list and chef tips.

Participating restaurants include the locations in San Mateo at 530 S. Norfolk St., Belmont at 1073 Alameda De Las Pulgas, and San Carlos at 744 El Camino Real.

“We are so proud to be able to offer these expanded options to our neighbors in this challenging time,” said Akki Patel, president of Letap Group and a Development Agent for Subway in northern California. “Whether we’re providing an alternative to your weekly grocery run, a direct donation service to thank our front-line essential workers or a fast, easy and healthy option for dinner tonight, Subway is here for you. It’s what good neighbors do.”

On a national level, Subway recently announced its new nationwide partnership with nonprofit Feeding America, the national network of food banks. From now until the end of April, each foot-long purchased at any of its locations, Subway is donating one meal to Feeding America.

For more information and a full list of participating Subway locations, visit Subway’s website.

The Rotary Club of Redwood City donated $2,000 to the Redwood City-San Mateo County Chamber of Commerce’s Feeding Heroes program and pledged to continue donating $1,000 to the program while the shelter-in-place order is in effect, the organization announced this week.

The initial donation by the Rotary Club will directly provide meals for departments at Redwood City’s Kaiser Permanente Hospital, and the meals will be provided by Arguello Catering. The Chamber matched the donation with its own contribution of $2,000. The Rotary Club future contributions will benefit staff at Kaiser Permanente in Redwood City and Sequoia Hospital.

The Feeding Heroes program funds meals for essential service workers in the community, and meals are prepared and delivered by participating Chamber restaurants. Business members can choose to donate $100, $250, $500, $1,000, or $2,000. A $500 sponsorship funds 25-30 meals.

Recipients of the program include: Fair Oaks Community Center, Kainos, Kaiser Permanente Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital, Recology San Mateo County, Redwood City Public Words, Redwood City Fire Department, Redwood City Police Department, San Mateo Co. Emergency Operations Center, Samaritian House, SamTrans, Sequoia Hospital, and Stanford Medical Center.

If you know of an additional organization in need of support, contact maggie@redwoodcitychamber.com.

To donate to the Feeding Heroes program, click here.

Photo credit: Kaiser Permanente

Three skilled nursing facilities have been designated by the County to care for COVID-19 patients, including those who have been discharged from local hospitals, and two more may be named in the near future based upon the need.

The facilities, called Centers of Excellence, “were identified for their high standards of patient care and expertise with infection control,” County health officials said.

Pacific Nursing & Rehab Center in Pacifica, specific sections of Seton Medical Center in Daly City, and St. Francis Convalescent Pavilion in Daly City are the three facilities chosen as Centers of Excellence.

“On behalf of the Hospital Consortium Board of Directors, we are grateful to the skilled nursing facility partners who are enabling excellent care to COVID-19 positive patients as part of a collaborative San Mateo County approach,” said Dr. CJ Kunnappilly, Chair, Hospital Consortium of San Mateo County and CEO of San Mateo Medical Center. “This is a time of unprecedented challenge for all sectors of our community and the healthcare community is stronger through this coordinated approach to assuring that every resident can get the right care in the right setting while we all prioritize protection of the public’s health.”

For more information, visit the San Mateo County Health website at smchealth.org/coronavirus.

Photo credit: San Mateo County Health Facebook